Overview
The Courtauld and National Trust have enjoyed a longstanding collaboration over many years, which has provided access to collections for research and conservation treatment to generations of conservation students and researchers. As a consequence of this access, National Trust paintings have been studied and conserved at The Courtauld using practices informed by innovative research in conservation, and knowledge about these collections has been deepened by research into the materials and techniques of these works.
The Courtauld and National Trust Partnership for conservation will formalise this collaboration, enabling access to cutting edge analytical facilities at the Courtauld for shared research projects, and access to National trust properties and collections for research and conservation studies.
Outcomes of this partnership include:
- An annual visit of Courtauld students to a National trust property for an in-depth preventive conservation study visit, learning about strategies for collections care, with access to National Trust experts.
- Paintings from National Trust collections travel to the Courtauld for study and conservation by students, enabling in-depth research and connecting with other initiatives, such as Painting Pairs, or the recent investigation of a group of Servants’ portraits from Erddig where analysis was also carried out in situ
- Shared research goals and mutual support for conservation research into sustainability in conservation and greener conservation practice.
- Researcher access to materials archived at the Courtauld from National Trust collections, including historic paint samples, IRR images and x-ray films.
